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What is Pride Month?

Pride is an annual celebration of the many contributions made by the LGBTQ+ community to history, society, and cultures worldwide. Pride Month is typically celebrated in June to commemorate the month that the Stonewall Riots took place.

The Stonewall Riots were important protests that took place over several days beginning on June 28, 1969, in the US. One year after the riots took place, activists in New York City marched through the streets of Manhattan in commemoration of the uprising.

Today, Pride is seen as a celebration of people coming together in love and friendship, to show how far LGBTQ+ rights have come, and how in some places there's still work to be done.

How can I get involved?

Here are just some of the ways you can help celebrate and support Pride :

1) Pronouns

Simply adding your pronouns to your email signature or social media normalises sharing pronouns, so that when a LGBTQ+ person wants to identify theirs, it's not inadvertently drawing attention to themselves.

2) Education

As with any diverse group of people, it's important that we continue to learn about each other. You can support the community by reading up about some of the terms commonly used (or misused). Another way to educate yourself about Pride is to brush up on your history by learning about how Pride Month started. You could also make it your mission to learn about a whole new demographic of history-makers this month to honour all of those who have come before us.

3) Pride Events

Find local Pride events happening throughout June that celebrate or support the LGBTQ+ community. You can easily find your nearest Pride event using Google (or on Facebook groups and Eventbrite). Or check out this website dedicated to Pride events throughout the UK : Pride-Events.

4) Speaking Up!

Much like any marginalised community, there is no need to speak over, or for, LGBTQ+ people when they are in the conversation. However, it is important that voices with merit speak up when needed; this isn't to say that LGBTQ+ voices aren't heard, but if a voice holds influence with a person spreading negativity, it should be used to correct these behaviours.

Want to Learn More?

You can find out more about Pride Month from the BBC's brilliant Newsround team Pride Month - What is it?. Or watch the BBC News report below, detailing how Pride Month was born :